Jakarta (ANTARA) - Communication and Information Minister Rudiantara departed for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to ink a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the field of digital economy between both nations.

"This collaboration will contribute to Indonesia's vision to become Asia's Digital Hub next year and also strengthen Indonesia's support for the realization of the Saudi Vision 2030 to continue to develop the non-oil industry sector," Rudiantara remarked in an official statement received here on Wednesday.

Initiation of the collaboration was carried out since the G20 meeting in Dusseldorf, Germany, in 2017. According to the Ministry of Information and Communication, Saudi Arabia was keen to establish cooperation in the field of digital economy after noticing Indonesia's success in creating four unicorn companies.

The cooperation will encourage Saudi Arabia's investment in Indonesia's digital economy sector and is expected to give rise to new unicorn companies. This digital collaboration is also expected to result in an exchange of information, experience, and knowledge among experts, as well as enable the penetration of Indonesia's digital products or technology in Saudi Arabia.

Not only involving the governments, but the Communication and Information Ministry will also rope in young entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises in this collaboration for the next five years. Startup companies, with unicorn status, will also be involved.

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Rudiantara noted that Traveloka and Tokopedia will be involved in this collaboration to share experiences with the Government of Saudi Arabia.

Apart from the signing of the memorandum of understanding, the communication and information minister is also scheduled to discuss digital collaboration, including the development of the Digital Umrah Enterprise, 1,000 Digital Innovations, and the establishment of the Digital Task Force.

The NextIcorn program in future will also organize a road show to Saudi Arabia to bring Indonesian startups having the potential to get investment.

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Translator: Natisha A, Yuni A Sinaga
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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